Equestrianism at the 2012 London Summer Games

The equestrian events of the 2012 London Olympics were held in the middle of the city in [Greenwich Park]. A 23,000 seat temporary arena built in the shadow of the National Maritime Museum hosted the show jumping and dressage whilst the cross country phase of the three day event wound through the rest of the 600-year-old royal park.

The majority of the medals were shared between three nations, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands, whose efforts accounted for 13 out of 18 possible medals.

The stars of the Games were the German eventer [Michael Jung] and the British dressage rider [Charlotte Dujardin] who both won two Olympic titles. Jung's success was not unexpected as he held both World and European titles but Dujardin was a relative novice in international competition with barely a year's experience at the top level.

In show jumping [Steve Guerdat] became the first Swiss rider to win an individual event since the Paris Games of 1924 whilst Britain's wait for a team gold ended at a mere 60 years. [Nick Skelton] was the oldest champion of London 2012 at 54 but he was a mere youngster compared to Japanese dressage rider [Hiroshi Hoketsu] who, at 71 years of age, was the oldest Olympian since 1936. Another veteran was Canada's [Ian Millar] who became the first person to compete at 10 Olympic Games, having first appeared in 1972.